


Bedroom Hymns

by Breezling



Series: The Private Life of Whitechapel - A Hartmund Story [2]
Category: Ripper Street
Genre: F/M, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Insecurity, Marriage of Convenience, Resolved Sexual Tension, Scars, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Victorian Attitudes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-09
Updated: 2018-01-09
Packaged: 2019-03-02 13:54:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13319538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Breezling/pseuds/Breezling
Summary: Reid and Susan get married for convenience but their relationship soon evolves into something more - set during "A Marriage of (In) Convenience"





	Bedroom Hymns

**Author's Note:**

> I have decided to expand the universe of "A Marriage of (In)Convenience", writing some small scenes of Reid and Susan's life as a married couple after season 2. Can be read as an independent work or as part of a series.
> 
> Thanks to Ronique and Allthetruebeauty to help me pick a title :D

The weeks after their first kiss are uncomfortable for Reid and Susan. Their marriage, built on friendship and camaraderie now had to also accommodate an unanticipated layer of romantic feelings and its consequences, making a complete shift in their dynamics.

 

Marital love is not an unknown topic to either of them, even though they both had very opposite experiences. What really makes the topic unsettling is that both Inspector Reid and Miss Hart had considered that particular part of their lives to be already over and, before they noticed, they were back to the start.

 

When they went upstairs after the kiss, Susan boldly gave Reid another small kiss on the lips before he went into the bathroom to get ready for the night, her face turning bright pink as she turned around. He returned to find her already under the covers, eyeing him curiously. Reid decided that it would be better to continue as usual, laying on his side of the bed and whispering "Good night, dear" before turning off the lamp. 

 

He feels a comfortable warmth spread inside his chest when her small and delicate hand searches for his before she replies "Good night, dear"

 

At first everything seemed to go back to normal, but during the slow times at the station house Reid often caught himself thinking about that night: Susan's head on his shoulder, her hair smelling faintly of soap and rosemary, the strangely familiar closeness of their bodies, the sound of her laughter and how her lips felt against his, like a long overdue promise.

 

He quickly chastised himself for those silly romantic thoughts, blaming them on going soft with age but secretly wondering if his wife had similar recollections.

 

Unknown to Edmund, Susan also had her own internal musings about that night. The safety of his broad chest and the strength of his hands as he held her making a warm feel bloom inside her chest. But it also brought other worries: as her governess told her as a young girl, kissing was often the prelude to other things. Other things she would have once welcomed and enjoyed but that now brought a hard and bitter knot to her throat everytime she thought about them. 

 

She pushed the thoughts away from her head. It was not like someone would desire her again after Duggan and there was no use thinking about that while there was work to be done at Obsidian.

* * *

 

Slowly their relationship becomes more tactile. Hands joined in the middle of the bed through the night. Susan flicking away a piece of lint on her husband's jacket. Edmund's fingers brushing his wife's neck as he helped her close the clasp of a necklace. The small touches that they were barely aware of deepening the affection between them. 

 

In the middle of a busy day at Leman Street, Edmund managed to get a small break to go home for a clean shirt, like he used to do back when his first wife was alive. Getting distracted by a newspaper article about a new West End play, he stood in the middle of the room shirtless and completely unaware of the light steps coming down the corridor.

 

Susan does not knock. As far as she is concerned, her husband is still at the police station and she just needs to fix her hair and touch up on her lipstick.

 

They stare dumbstruck at each other for what seem like forever before Susan looks at her feet in embarrassment. Edmund soon realizes why - she has never seen the scar on his left shoulder before and is probably disgusted by the sight of it. 

 

"I am so sorry" he whispers, self conscious of his marred body and trying to cover the offending scar with his shirt. "I did not..."

 

Susan then looks up again and stares deeply into his eyes, closing the distance between them with small, decided steps. She stands before him for a moment, as if to consider the best way to say the words on her mind.

 

"May I touch it?" she asks, her voice barely audible as she raises her right hand a bit unsure. 

 

Reid looks down at her puzzled for a moment, unsure of what she wishes to achieve with that but eventually complies, nodding in agreement. 

 

Her fingers ghost over the damaged shoulder and he looks the other way and close his eyes. Emily never touched it, simply giving him a disgusted look he would not be able to stand see reproduced on Susan's face. Deborah ignored his wounded shoulder and Jane never got to see the full extension of the wounds since he never removed his shirt during their brief trysts. 

 

Susan's reaction, however, caught him completely off guard.

 

Smooth and soft hands gently touched the hardened and rough scar tissue that covered his left shoulder, curiously mapping the surface with her fingertips before she noticed Reid was looking away. 

 

With one of her hands still on his shoulder, she gently reached for his cheek, slowly turning his face. "Look at me, Edmund" she whispered in a sweet and gentle voice. 

 

When he finally dares to look, two bright and lively green eyes are staring back at him but he does not see pity or disgust in them. Susan's eyes are tender and gentle and her lips curl in a small shy smile under his glance. 

 

She then presses a light kiss over the scars, a small, barely perceptible lipstick mark being the only evidence of it ever happening. 

 

That night, before they go to bed, Reid pulls her in for a kiss, longer and deeper than all of the ones they had exchanged ever since. He falls asleep watching her smile when she thinks he is not looking.

* * *

After that little incident, the innocent touches became bolder and the closeness they previously shared turned into a sweet type of torture as both of them struggled with lustful thoughts, the joined hands in the empty vale in the middle of their bed holding each other strongly as if they wished to pull the rest of the other body closer in a tight embrace, only stopped by their minds holding them back.

 

Edmund Reid is a gentleman. He gave Susan his word he harboured no carnal desires towards her before they got married and gentlemen never went back with their word, not to mention the issue of her traumatic liaison with the late Silas Duggan that clearly let deep wounds that were just beginning to heal. He would not break her trust by making her go through the same painful experiences of the past just for his selfish pleasure. He is a better man than that but not good enough to stop the heat from pooling in his lower body when they kiss.

 

Susan feels torn between her disgusting old wounds and the newfound desire for her husband. The pain and the bruises Duggan gave her have long faded but his bad seed still grows inside of her somehow. She does not want Edmund to see the body the fat barber abused in unspeakable ways but at the same time she misses the pleasures exchanged between a man and a woman. She wants to be desired again.

 

Then one night while they lay in bed, as if something was bound to happen, the world stays still after they kiss. Their eyes meet for a long moment and Susan places Reid's  hand over her chest, allowing his fingers to explore the pleasant swell of her breasts. He kisses her again, hungrily this time, a long, wet and lustful kiss that was long overdue, slightly startling the small woman underneath him. 

 

Reid  gives her an understanding look. They will have to try a different approach. He kisses his wife again as he prepares to kneel in front of his own private goddess to offer her his complete worship and devotion. 

 

It's a dark and silent night in Whitechapel, except for the sensual symphony of two bodies discovering each other as they fit perfectly together.


End file.
